Bit of a Project

Dave Rishar

Dave Rishar

Joined
Oct 25, 2004
Messages
3,178
I've been spending some time rehandling pieces of mine that needed it, generally from damage accumulated over time. Sometimes I do it just for fun.

I have a Trisul and a Kerambit. Both are good knives; both have handles that, while functional, are a bit bland for my tastes. The Trisul has hill walnut with little figure, while the Kerambit features plain black horn. Either material is good enough for my purposes but since I'm replacing handles anyway, why not something a little spiffier?

Before:

project1.jpg


After:

project2.jpg


project3.jpg


project4.jpg


The Trisul got some of Mike's Magic Maple. ("M3".) The Kerambit received some kind of green Corian. Pins are mild steel. I made some errors; the tangs were fairly straight but not perfectly square, leading to some gaps, and I tend to botch the finish on the pins for a variety of reasons, but to learn is to make mistakes. Neither handle is finished yet. I'll be sanding finer and refining things as I go along. I'm just glad that I got them on there reasonably straight and in decent shape.

Not perfect, but good enough for my purposes. I'm looking forward to refamiliarizing myself with my tools.
 
Nice work, the Trisul looks great.

I can't say I really like the kerambit, but that is for MY tastes.

I don't like that green thing, but it's nicely done.
 
I'm all for modifying things to make them unique...keep it up!
 
Great work Dave, thank you
 
Dave, that's really neat. The maple is truly gorgeous. The corian looks interesting. How is it to work? Thanks for sharing the project!
Steve
 
Lookin good Dave. The corian is really sweet. And Mike's maple is the prettiest I've seen in a while.
 
The Corian isn't for everyone, but it looks as good as plastic is ever going to look and it's extremely easy to work -- it comes perfectly flat, does not warp or crack, cuts quickly and smoothly, and doesn't burn. I've heard that it's tricky to glue but I haven't had any problems with that; using a good epoxy and a paper spacer between the tang and the scales solved all of my adhesion difficulties. It's also cheap (~$1 a lb. shipped on Ebay, or free if you've got people) and comes in a bewildering array of colors. The problem is that at the end of the day, it's still plastic...and who wants a plastic handle?

In contrast, the maple looks great but tears up my equipment. When I'm shaping a handle with the pins installed, the brass pins actually wear away faster than the maple does. (They don't burn the instant the grit dulls out either. Maybe I should make future handles out of brass.) I seem to be allergic to the dust as well. I'm pleased with the results but working with it is not a pleasant experience.
 
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